Match-making machine.



'No. 804,383. PATENTED NOV. 14, 1905. L. COBBAERT.

MATCH MAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.13, 1901.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

No. 804,383. PATENTED NOV. 14, 1905.

L. OOBBAERT.

MATCH MAKING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG.13, 1901.

4 SHEETSBHBBT 2.

No. 804,383. PATENTED NOV. 14, 1905. L. GOBBABRT. MATCH MAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 13, 1901.

4 SHEETS-SHBET 3.

No. 804,883. PATBNTED NOV. 14, 1905.

L. GOBBABRT.

MATCH MAKING MACHINE.

APPLIUATION FILED AUG-.13 1901.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

lm I Hi W a W 2 J MIN UNITED STATES PATENT orrion.

Specificationof Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 14, 1905.

Application filed August 13, 1901. Serial No. 71,930.

T 0 all whom, it puny concern:

Be it known that I, LoUIs CoBBAnR'r, manufacturer, a subject of the Kingof Belgium, residing at Ninove, in the Kingdom of Belgium, have inventednew and useful Improvements in or Relating to Match-Making Machines, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The present invention relates to the matchmaking machines of that kindin which the match sticks or splints are held from the beginning inframes, which follow each other without interruption, passing throughall the necessary operations, being taken out of the frames only at theend of the operation to be directly distributed or packed in boxes.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved means ofimmersing the end of the matches and an improved means for conveying thematches through the drying-chamber.

Other objects or advantages will appear in the following description,and will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a side view of the head-dippingapparatus and a portion of the drying-chamber. Fig. 1 represents theremaining portion of the dryingchamber. Fig. Qis a front view of thematchdipping apparatus. Fig. 8 is a front view of the firstframe-raiser.

A frame 0, traveling on an endless band X and carrying the match-splintswhich have been dipped in parafiin by any suitable means, is submittedto the action of a mechanism the object of which is to well immerse theends of the match-splints into the chemical ignition-paste distributedon the endless band. This mechanism consists of a plate p, held abovethe splint-frame c on four sliding rods controlled by a spring p, thelower ends of which rods are connected to slide cross-bars t, providedin the central part with rollers g, moving in the corresponding grooveof a cam or eccentric p actuated by bevel-gearing p in such a mannerthat the plate 0 descends at the required moment onto the frame 0, andthereby forces the ends of the match-splints to press into and throughthe ignition-paste until they touch the band. The rods are controlled bysprings which tend to raise the plate 2 after the roller 9 has passedout of the downward deflection of the cam-groove, thereby causing theascent and release of the frame, which has been carried forward on theband, at the next intermittent movement of the latter to anintermittently-moving elevator, which is arranged in front of thedrying-chamber and is adapted to present the frames in succession at theentrance to the drying-chamber, in which they are moved successivelyupward and backward and forward by means of a second elevationarrangement cooperating with the first and arranged at the other end orside of the drying-chamber and two drivers x having alternate horizontalmovements. This first elevator comprises four verticallymovable uprightsr 9*, arranged in a framework of the machine with means for imparting toit an intermittent ascending and descending movementfor instance, by aneccentric cam r actuated by bevel-gearing r said cam being provided witha groove in which rollers g on sliding cross-bars t, to which theuprights r r are attached, each of these bars in the present case beingactuated by a similar eccentric mechanism r 7 as represented in Fig. 1.This is done to meet strain and weight of the great number of framesreceived by the elevator. At the lower part and inner side the uprightsr r are provided with a set of clips r rfour in the present example--which are controlled by or act as springs in such a manner thatnormally they project forward, while they can be pressed back into oragainst the body of the uprights under the influence of pressureexercised against their edges by the frames 0, as will be explainedhereinafter. By the side of the three upper spring-clips are arranged instationary uprights two sets of three similar clips r W, cooperatingwith the former, and finally movable uprights r r are provided in theirupper parts with a series of fixed slideways or grooves ar m on eachside. This elevator device, which acts to raise the frames, isimmediately followed by the drying-chamber, which consists of arectangular chamber m, the length and height of which depends on thedesired length of the passage of the frames to the chamber, so as toinsure a perfect drying of the heads of the match under the influence ofacurrent of hot air produced in or passing through said chamber 50 bymeans of a blast device or the like, which, however, is not representedin the drawings and need not be described, since it does not form anintegral part of the invention. In the interior ofthe saiddrying-chamberwon the inner longitudinal walls thereof are provided,say, nine sets of slideways :20, similar to the slideways 00 of theelevator and extending from one end of the drying-chamber to the otherand represented in the drawings in Figs. 1 and 1 as broken into tWoparts. Both at the entrance and at the outlet of the drying-chamber arearranged guides or angle-pieces 00*, close below the slideways :12,being intended to regulate exactly the position of the various frameswhen entering the slideways, as will be described hereinafter. At theother end of the drying-chamber w is arranged an elevator similar to theone at the entrance; but this elevator is not provided with clips W andis provided in this example with only seven slides 7' instead of eight.In front of each elevator is arranged a propelling plate or driver av-2'. 0., one on the lefthand side of one elevator, the other on theright-hand side of the other smaller driver in front of six slides. Thedriver consists of a vertical surface so arranged that it can actuateall the slides at one time. The propeller-drivers a are given ahorizontal reciprocating movement, one moving forward, while the otherrecedes, following the same intermittent motion as the endless band X,which transfers one frame at a time to the elevator, the intermittentmovement being effected by mechan ism consisting of a loop-rack andtoothed wheel device B, as shown in the drawings. The length of thisalternating reciprocating movement of the drivers 00 corresponds to thelength of movement of the frames in the elevator and drying-chamber, andin order to insure constant percision the drivers [0 which are lessbroad than the elevators, in order to be able to pass between theuprights and the slideways, are guided horizontally both at the top andbottom by long slides g, which in their turn are guided in the frameworkof the machine.

The transfer of the match-splint frames from the endless band X to thefirst elevator and their movement through the dryingchamber 00 iseffected in the following manner: At the moment when the endless band Xhas brought the match-frame 0 between the elevator-uprights r r theelevator occupies the lowest position and the spring-clips r r are belowthe edges of the match-frame, as represented in Figs. 1 and 3. The cam rin its continuous rotation raises the elevator and with it thematch-frame 0. During this ascent the edges of the match-frame willpress outward the stationary pawls i r, which spring back again as soonthe match-frame has passed beyond them, and will then support the framein stationary position while the elevator descends again to raise thesecond matchframe,which, in the meantime, has been placed in position bythe endless band X. During this downward movement, the elevator-clips rr recede and slide by the edges of the two match-frames and projectagain at the end of the downward movement and are ready to raise the twoframes together in one lift and to place them on the corresponding nextpair of stationary clips r r as soon as the first frame -has arrived onthe last set of clips, which is on a level with "the first pair ofslideways 09 of the drying-chamber. At this moment the driver 00 on theleft advances toward the right and pushes the match-frames for ward intothe slideways 92' of the drying-chamher, and as on the next movement ofthe propeller toward the right a second match-frame has been placed onthe upper clips in front'of the same slideways the propeller pushes thissecond match-frame into the drying-chamber, which frame pushes the firstmatch-frame forward in front of it, and so on until the lowest set ofthe slideways of the drying-chamber have received the full number offrames corresponding to the length of the drying-chamber. The nextmovement toward the right of the driver 00 on the left side will causethe first frame to enter into the lowest slideways m of the elevator atthe other or right side of the drying-chamber. This elevator at thatmoment occupies the lowest position, and in this position the rightdriver 00 being shorter than the left one cannot interfere with thisframe. The right elevator raises the frame from its lowest position tothe next higher one, so as to place it in front of the second set ofslideways :10 of the drying-chai'nber. In this position the right driveron its movement toward the left will push this match-frame into thedrying-chamber by entering it into the corresponding slideways w. It isto be understood that the moving of the two drivers is reciprocal andalternative from the left to the right. The following frames as theyarrive push it again forward into the lower slideways of the firstelevator, which then places it by its own ascending movement in front ofthe third set of slideways of the drying-chamber, into which it is thenintroduced. This combined upward and backward and forward movement iscontinued until all the sets of slides of the drying-chamber are chargedwith the frames moving intermittently, the sets marked by the unevennumber steadily traveling toward the right, while those of the evennumbers travel similarly toward the left in such a manner that eachframe carrying the tipped matches passes, say, as in the present case,nine times through the entire length of the drying-chamberi. a, from thetime of first entering into the chamber at the bottom on the left-handside until it leaves it at the top on the right of the chamber, where it00-. cupies the last set of slides which pass above the right-handelevator and where the matchframes are received by, a Workman.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure byLetters Patent of the United States, is

1. In a machine of the class described, the combination with thedrying-chamber, and a splint-carrying frame, of horizontal slidewaysarranged Within the chamber, one above the other in parallel relation,and means for shifting the splint-carrying frame from one slide- Way toanother.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination With adrying-chamber, and a splint-carrying frame, of horizontal slidewaysarranged Within the chamber, one above the other in parallel relation,and means at the ends of the slideWays for shifting a frame from oneslideway to a slideWay next to it.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination with adrying-chamber, and a splint-carrying frame, of horizontal slidewaysarranged Within the chamber, one above the other in parallel relation,and elevators at each end of the slideways.

4. In a machine of the class described, the combination with adrying-chamber, and a splint-carrying frame, of horizontal slideWaysarranged within the chamber, one above the other in parallel relation,elevators at each end of the slideways, and means for shifting thesplint-carrying frames onto and from the elevators.

5. In a machine of the class decribed, the combination With adrying-chamber, and a splint-carrying'frame, of horizontal slidewaysarranged Within the chamber, one above the other in parallel relation,elevators at each end of the slideways, drivers arranged on the sides ofthe elevators, and means operating the drivers to shift thesplint-carrying frame.

6. In a machine of the class described, the combination With adrying-chamber, and a splint-carryingframe, of horizontal slidewaysarranged Within the chamber, one above the other in parallel relation,elevators at each end of the slideways, comprising a plurality ofuprights, means on the uprights for receiving the splint-carryingframes, and means for causing an intermittent ascending and descendingmovement of the uprights.

7. In a machine of the class described, the

8. In a machine of the class described, the D combination With adrying-chamber, and a splint-carrying frame, of horizontal slidewaysarranged Within the chamber, one above the other in parallel relation,elevators at each end of the slideways, and means for causing anintermittent ascending and descending movement to the elevator.

9. In a machine of the class described, the combination With adrying-chamber, and a splint-carrying frame, ofhorizontal slidewaysarranged Within the chamber, one above the other in parallel relation,elevators at each end of the slideways, means for causing anintermittent ascending and descending movement to the elevator,spring-clips carried by the drying-chamber, spring-clips carried by oneof the elevators and cooperating With the clips of the drying-chamber todeliver the splint-carrying frame into the drying-chamber; and driverson one side of each elevator, to move the splint-frames from theelevators to the slideways in the drying-chamber.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of tWoWitnesses.

LOUIS COBBAERT.

Witnesses:

AUG. J OERISSEN, GREGORY PHELAN.

